EGG PLANT.
The advisability of growing egg plants in farm gardening operations is a question of location. On a suitable soil, near a good market, the operation will be a profitable one, if rightly managed. The egg plant is a tender vegetable, botanically allied to both the tomato and the potato, but less hardy than either, especially when young. For this reason it is best to delay sowing the seed, even in hot-beds, until cold weather is past, for the tender seedlings never fully recover from a chill or set-back. Indeed, for the farm gardener the month of May is early enough to sow the seed under glass, for this plant grows with great rapidity in a warm soil, and May-sown seed not infrequently yields plants that outstrip those sown a full month earlier.
New Jersey Improved Large Purple Smooth Stem Egg Plant.
The egg plant demands a richer soil than either the potato or tomato. It also asks for more water. It is a rank feeder. A good stimulant, if rotted manure cannot be had, is nitrate of soda at the rate of 400 pounds to the acre.
The farm gardener will do well to consider his market before engaging in the production of the egg plant on an extensive scale, for it is a perishable product. It bears shipment well, but its use is mainly limited to consumption while fresh. It may command a very high price at some seasons of the year and at other times be practically unsalable at any price, owing to an over-supply.
If egg-plant seed be sown under glass in early May, and carefully protected against cool weather (especially at night), the young plants will be ready to transplant before the end of the month and large enough for the open field in June. They should be set in rows 4 feet apart, and about 3 feet apart in the row. Set at these distances, an acre of ground would accommodate about 3,500 plants.
The enemy of the egg plant, in growth, is the potato bug, which must be hand-picked or poisoned. There is a rot which causes the fruit to drop from the stem before reaching maturity. This rot is a fungus, and the Bordeaux mixture is recommended for it. The blight which sometimes affects the foliage is in part at least caused by cold weather, and for this there is no remedy, except late planting.
Every healthy plant should produce from two to six or more full-sized fruits, and it is therefore easy to calculate that an acre's product under favorable circumstances may be very large.
Egg Plant.—There is nothing equal to the New Jersey Improved Large Purple Smooth Stem for the use of farm gardeners. For description, see "Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual."
Johnson & Stokes' Imperial, or Long Standing Kale.